The set-up: Both the Stars and Predators have opened 1-1-0 as the teams meet for these Central Division rivals meet for the first time this season Tuesday night in Nashville. The Stars have scored nine goals in their first two games but they've also allowed eight. Nashville split a weekend home-and-home series with Chicago, scoring four of its six goals while a man up, including all three in Friday night's 3-2 win (Chicago won 5-3 at home on Saturday).

Dallas: The Stars opened their season with 4-2 home win over the Ducks but the team's defense was unable to stop Colorado after grabbing a 2-0 on Saturday, leading to a 6-5 loss. The Avalanche scored five straight goals after falling behind 2-0 in that comeback win. "We had our chances, but we gave up a lot," left wing Jamie Benn said. "We didn't do enough to win the hockey game and we didn't deserve to win. When you play like that, it doesn't matter if you scored five. It's unacceptable." Dallas goalie Antti Niemi was victimized by poor defense in front of him at Colorado, allowing five goals on just 20 shots before being replaced by Kari Lehtonen at 7:05 of the second period. Lehtonen stopped 12 of 13 shots but the damage was done.

Nashville: The Predators are hoping that their power play unit continues its excellent start but Nashville also needs to get off to a better early start in this game. The Predators gave up the first goal in their 3-2 win against Chicago but then dug a 3-0 hole before the first period's end Saturday night, which essentially decided the game, even though they outshot the Blackhawks 36-28.

The pick: Dallas won four of the five meetings between the teams last season and Pekka Rinne, who turned aside 22 of 24 shots in a 3-2 win over Chicago on Friday, will get the nod on Tuesday in net. He's 11-7-2 in his career (with three shutouts) against the Stars and I'll make Dallas a 10* play in this one.